Blend and Ferment

Some people have buffet style religious beliefs I have buffet style detox beliefs! Or so it seems to be the case this summer. I started with an herbal colon and liver cleanse without altering diet; the herbs didn’t agree with my colon though it still was detoxifying (see post from June). Since I knew that 3 weeks wasn’t enough to cleanse as deeply as I needed, I met with Gina Laverde. Gina is raw 99% vegan, body ecology proponent, reiki master, consultant, mom/wife/greenie and so much more. She offered guidance and suggestions for cleansing the gut. Fermented foods. Yeah, that’s the stuff! We aren’t talking good ol’ german sauerkraut and pickles; we’re talking make-it-yourself kefir.

Gina offers a six week rejuvenation program during which she emailed daily mantras, encouragement, tips and recipes on weekdays. My first 10 days was ordering all the necessary items, getting a colonic, slowly incorporating detox spa treatments, and concocting vegetable smoothies. She continued to check in and ask where I was in the process and what I experienced. She is definitely a partner in your rejuvenation. She offers her program ongoing, so you can also try what I am experiencing.

I haven’t been a smoothie person. I like them when they are in front of me; I just think making them takes extra effort and cleaning. As I add chopped veggies and fruit to a bowl to blend I think, “why don’t I just eat these as a salad?” But I make the smoothies as directed. I assume blending them makes the nutrients more bioavailable on a cellular level as well as conserving digestive energy by breaking it down for the stomach. After a couple weeks, I begin adding veggies to the blender I generally have no interest in eating so I know my body is asking for what it needs – celery, red pepper, or carrots. Every once in a while for a little variety I add in some guanabana or tamarind pulp (no sugar slightly sour fruits).

Also in those initial ten day, I buy a loofah for dry skin exfoliation – stimulates the lymphatic system and opens up the skin to eliminate toxins. I buy more castor oil since I will be applying castor oil packs (also in a previous post) a few days weekly, not monthly as usual. I admit I had difficulty fitting this in to my day and sometimes I would just massage castor oil onto my abdomen. The heated castor oil packs will stimulate the Liver and Gallbladder detoxification. I buy some green clay which will absorb toxins as they move down and out through the intestines. These are considered spa treatments if you didn’t catch that.

I visited Wendy Beyer in Lincoln Park for my first colonic. Our phone exchange was calming, we connected about biking. I was a little nervous because my previous at-home DIY experience elicited vomiting so I wasn’t sure what would happen in a professional setting. All went well. She took extra time and slowly began the process as well as challenged and guided me. If you are in Chicago, I highly recommend scheduling colon hydrotherapy with Wendy. The little neighborhood she works in is home to at least 2 other hydrotherapists and each practice has its own style, so if you are looking for just the colon cleanse without all the hulabaloo about nutrition, supplements, raw food, or disease, Wendy could be for you.

My kefir starter arrived from Body Ecology within a couple weeks of meeting with Gina. The Coco-biotic was on backorder. Coco-biotic is a naturally effervescent fermented coconut water drink. I purchased chlorella from Mercola. I chose chlorella over other algae because it nourishes the yin and I definitely needed that. My lungs were dry from biking and in general, my yin is a little depleted. Gina offers great resources for algae and probiotic brands she has seen success with in her own healing process.

I biked over to a Thai grocer and picked up a case of young coconuts. The young ones are the white cone top shaped ones. Now I know. I am making coconut kefir which consists of the kefir starter and the water/juice from 9 coconuts! The kefir contains significant number of strains of good bacteria. The fermented drink is cleansing and aids in digestion. I sterilized my mason jars, cracked open a few coconuts, and made kefir. It’s a good five day process for the entire case. And the mason jars multiply. Unfortunately my first attempt did not create good kefir and I was off to the grocer for another case! When it works, your fridge is full of fermented goodness (unless you live with someone who raises their eyebrows, then it is just crazy stuff). At first I had three large containers of kefir just sitting out fermenting and still fermenting when it dawned on me this kefir was going to be too powerful and I ran out to get another case of coconuts to keep making more. I had to get used to the ongoing process of buying a case of coconuts, whacking them open and making more kefir. It is a new thing to add to my life. I also scraped the meat out of half the coconuts and added some of the liquid kefir and made a tasty treat. I guess you could add more liquid to the fat rich coconut meat and make a thick kefir similar to a dairy version! You can add probiotic capsules to the coconut meat and have raw coconut yogurt, too.

Sometimes due to time constraints but wanting to stay true to the tenet of fermenting, I experimented with my own version of Gina’s recipes. I couldn’t recall the ingredients of her fermented beets so I just winged it. Not what she probably had in mind, but they were slightly fermented with coconut kefir! I was supposed to make a massive batch and use a dry package of kefir starter, not the liquid coconut kefir. O well they still ended up fermented. Fermenting helps with the digestive and the cleansing process. Raw cruciferous veggies and sweet root veggies take much energy to breakdown, fermenting those and also fermenting oils helps your body absorb the nutrients. I can ferment anything my body deems difficult to digest and it will no longer be difficult to digest after fermentation.

I realized the ordering snafus and kefir making mistakes and some really complicated weekly schedules here and there I experienced meant that this detox would fill my entire summer and that some of these changes would be integrated as a lifestyle change.

I continue with my supplements.

Maca, Peruvian gingeng, a tonic for the endocrine system. Taking one supplement for the whole shebang is a lot less stressful than taking a tonic for each endocrine organ!

Maitake mushroom will boost the immune system.

Probiotics

And I play with the detox herbal formula from my previous colon and liver cleanses. It has good stuff in it; I just can’t handle the heat from the habanero.

Add in the chlorella and seaweeds

I drink shots of Coco-biotic at work; I keep eating green smoothies; I slowly eliminate most, not all, carbs and sugar in the form of bakery cookies, breads, and sweet treats. I didn’t have cravings but I would allow myself the best of the best occasionally, not just any sweet wheat treat. I eliminated all fat in the second month…I had no sugar, coffee or wine cravings so I hoped the once monthly craving for cheese pizza would disappear. Early on had weeks of nineteen hour days and was unable to make meals at home other than a morning smoothie. I love breakfast food – oatmeal, granola, fruit, and nuts - and I did occasionally have oatmeal or nuts and raisins for breakfast and take the smoothie for lunch. On the busy days I would grab a salad; and in the first few weeks, I indulged in a burger and a beer; a hot dog and nachos; and a pizza! Most evenings I was so happy to chop up some veggies, lemon and garlic, cook or sprout quinoa or boil up some bean thread, mix it with a little miso paste and sit down to dinner. Surprisingly despite my normally high intake of vegetable eating prior to the smoothies, those pureed veggies in the smoothies were more filling and got the detox started. In the first few weeks, I’d get logey within a couple hours after a huge (32 oz) smoothie. Not hungry, not thirsty, just loopy and tired. Sure signs of detoxing.

I had a clear plan of my six week window of rejuvenating. The universe had other ideas and luckily I went with the flow. The nearly 2 weeks it took to receive the ordered supplies prepped me physically and mentally for the weeks to come. A month into the process, my liver kicked in. I was so aggravated and annoyed that the process wasn’t going “as planned” and complained I wanted warm, heated up food and then I had some PMS symptoms. Lisa’s got Liver qi! I laughed. Yes, the Liver is a little unruly and asserting itself, but knowing it is shedding toxins and the raw and fermented foods are also building the energy was enough for me to keep steady on the cleanse. So I would be cleansing til the end of Chicago summer. That’s ok. I’ve got a lifetime there’s no rush nothing I have to do instead.

photos: jasminesrecipebox, meghantelpnerblog, ecoki.com

Food, Inc.

The movie's buzz was loud in the vegan, raw, macrobiotic communities months before it released nationwide. Links for Food Inc. were constantly popping up on my Facebook page from friends, practitioners, chefs, green activists, journalists, and businesses. If you've read or heard excerpts or synopses as I have of Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma, you will have some idea what this movie contains.

Viewing Food Inc. will literally open your mind's eye to the politics and corporate monopoly of the American food industry and to the abuse to animals and detriment of it all to your body. It is difficult to stomach, but what you are actually eating is even more difficult.

According to Food, Inc., "Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment" ...and it's happening with our government's consent.

Here are some highlights from the movie Food, Inc.:

• Monsanto has patented "Roundup Ready" genetically engineered seeds that are made to do well with the herbicide, Roundup. If farmers save seed, a long-held farming practice of putting seeds aside from every crop to use again, Monsanto can sue them for violating the seed patents. Monsanto has won millions of dollars in lawsuits, literally changing the way farmers are allowed to farm.
  


• Meat and poultry manufacturers have stringent regulations that require farmers to squeeze poultry or cattle into dark, cramped warehouses so that the animals can grow fat quickly. These animals are sick and can barely walk. They lie in their own feces and need antibiotics to make them healthy. Antibiotics that are now part of our meal when we eat non-organic meats.
  


• Government regulations and farm subsidies have shifted our food supply from good calories to bad calories, like a proliferation of corn and soy. If you've ever wondered why fruits and vegetables are so much more expensive than processed foods, this is why. Subsidized crops like corn, wheat and soy are finding their way into so many foods as main ingredients, fillers or damaging sweeteners, like high fructose corn syrup. Subsidies make them much cheaper and poor families diets tend to suffer the most.
  


• Cows are fed diets of corn, which is harmful to their natural digestive systems. The corn creates an acidic condition, when they require a neutral pH. This has caused harmful bacteria to thrive, particularly E. coli.
  An added tidbit : 95% of a McDonald's meal is corn products from the meat to the bun to the condiments to the corn syrup to the shake.
  

Food Inc. does offer great suggestions and hope for what you can do to change the way you eat AND the way our nation eats.

What are some changes that don't include creating a farm in your home?

1. Educate yourself on the dangers of processed food and sugar. Make small changes to a whole food, processed- and sugar-free diet.
   


2. Strengthen your immune system and therefore your digestion with probiotics. Processed food destroys the gut health creating an imbalance of healthy to unhealthy bacteria. Taking probiotic supplements and drinks, eating fermented foods and drinks will all replenish the healthy gut flora
   


3. Eat healthy fats. Learn which are and which aren't. Avoid any in the clear plastic bottles at the supermarket, they are processed rancid oils. Choose olive oil, coconut oil, hemp and flaxseed oils, walnut and almond oils, evening primrose, among others.
   


4. Choose organic wherever possible. Certain fruits and vegetables absorb more toxins than others. Definitely choose organic meats.
   


5. Take time to detoxify. Take your time and add healthy choices individually and remove the unhealthy ones at the same pace. Allow three months of your Spring or Summer to cleanse your system of all it has accumulated, and continue to make healthy choices thereafter.

34 Billion American Dollars

A 2007 survey on the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) over a 12 month period showed American spent $33.9 billion out-of-pocket on products and services. CAM encompasses the array of medical and health care systems, practices and products including herbal supplements, meditation, yoga, chiropractic, massage and acupuncture that are not part of conventional allopathic medicine. 38 percent of U.S. adults treat existing conditions and diseases or maintain overall health and wellness with CAM.

From the study:

To put these figures in context, the $14.8 billion spent on nonvitamin, nonmineral, natural products is equivalent to approximately one-third of total out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs, and the $11.9 billion spent on CAM practitioner visits is equivalent to approximately one-quarter of total out-of-pocket spending on physician visits.

"These data indicate that the U.S. public makes millions of visits to CAM providers each year and spends billions of dollars for these services, as well as for self-care forms of CAM," said Richard L. Nahin, Ph.D., MPH, acting director of NCCAM's Division of Extramural Research and lead author of the cost of complementary and alternative medicine analysis. "While these expenditures represent just a small fraction of total health care spending in the United States, they constitute a substantial part of out-of-pocket health care costs."

Media note: For the full report and downloadable graphics visit—nccam.nih.gov/news/camstats/costs/.

Raw Ecology Diet Rejuvenation Program

Here is an amazing program for everyone and a great introduction to raw food by Gina Laverde. Pop over to her blog and read her personal journey with food and healing.

This is a 6 week personalized and guided program for an accessible price: $149 or $250 if you and a friend join.

Definitely check it out!

All Systems Go!

Even though it was June, it was a little late in the season when I began my Spring cleanse - a colon cleanse, liver cleanse and blood and lymph cleanse – though a little later than I generally begin and it would be a 4.5 week process. The series was suggested by a colleague and it made complete common sense to cleanse the colon first.

Many of us focus on the liver assuming if we have daily bowel movements, there isn’t any issue with the colon. Wrong. The majority of us have a casing of accumulated gunk regardless of “regular” bowel movements thanks to the dairy, wheat, yeast, and bad fats in the American diet. Have you looked in your old kitchen or bathroom plumbing pipes? Probably a little bit of gunk there! Adding debris released from an organ during a cleanse, a liver cleanse in this instance, into an already overstressed colon isn’t going to improve ant system. That debris from the liver is just going to recirculate through the blood and lymph and much will end up back in the liver. That cleanse just provides a vacation for the liver. The idea of starting from the most concrete, physical toxicity of the colon to the more fluid, energetic toxicity of the lymphatic system again is common sense.

So when my 5-day Dr. Schulze’s Bowel Cleanse and 5-day Dr. Schulze’s Liver/Gallbladder Cleanse arrived, I ripped open the box like it was Christmas day. I read the enclosed booklets containing all the documented extreme cases written with much-expected sensationalism. It isn’t that I don’t believe the information, it is just that the over-the-top sales pitch doesn’t scare me into the cleanse or out of eating some of the foods I enjoy. Anyway, the photo of who I assume to be Dr. Schulze isn’t the spitting image of perfect outward physical health. I bet all the habenero in the formulae caused his hair to fall out! The Bowel Cleanse kit contains the standard size bottle of innocuously named Intestinal #1 capsules and a extra huge size of equally named Intestinal #2 capsules plus the added bonus (for those around you) of Air Detox (a spritzer of essential oils to use following expelling the actual #2!)

Intestinal #1 formula cannot be taken by individuals suffering from any heat-induced colon issue: heat-diarrhea, colitis, or irritated bowel of any kind. I will also add that if one tends toward a dry constipation, this formula should also be avoided. Though some of the ingredients are mucilaginous, the formula does contain many hot-natured herbs. It contains curacao and cape aloe leaf, senna leaf and pod, cascara sagrada aged bark, Oregon grape root, Hawaiian yellow ginger root, garlic bulb and habanero pepper.

Intestinal #2 formula contains bentonite clay plus a few of the ingredients from the #1 formula, and is not heating and according to the booklet. Individuals who bypass the Intestinal #1 can take this formula. Just a warning since the ingredients bulk up, there may be a tendency to sluggish bowels.

For the first 5 days I was going to ingest a little more than 50 Intestinal #2 capsules and 100 extra ounces of water each day. I was essentially filling my gut with bentonite clay and herbs and praying Intestinal #1 capsules would guide it out at appropriate times (when not in transit to work or elsewhere!)

Day 1: some heavy duty rumbling can be overheard during clients’ treatments today between the first and second of 5 doses of capsules. I biked a little extra and walked a little extra and added in some twisty yoga moves just to make sure nothing halted enroute. I notice a little added pressure level with my intestines but toward my back. I have visions of a clay-impacted intestine pushing into my kidney. Plus a little knocking in the lower right quadrant got my creative mind thinking not that it was the much discussed gas but that the clay was fighting with one of the many creatures sensationalized in the Bowel Cleanse booklet. Either those thoughts or the added clay caused a bit of a right-sided forehead headache pressure.

Day 2: Occasionally I doubt the necessity of following directions, but I highly recommend the directions of taking Intestinal #1 with food. Taking the formula solo, I experienced a raging and spreading fire from stomach to esophagus! After taking a larger dose of Intestinal #1 capsules the previous night just to be safe, I started in on my 5 daily doses. I haven’t changed my diet other than finishing off leftover sweet potato fries from a dinner out. I am still eating lots of carrots, collards, kale, and poblanos…and oatmeal and banana for breakfast. Today, my day off, I forced myself not to stay indoors to read or to research or to fiddle around the apartment. Still in worry mode, I remained active.

Day 3-5: All days are fairly uneventful, but I again stress this cleanse for anyone one with irritated bowels with heat symptoms or dryness. The habanero in the formulas is contraindicated for those conditions. (And avoid all the cleanses if you are pregnant or nursing) I continued to add more #1 capsules to my 5 daily doses of the #2 capsules since I wasn’t receiving the desired results. Walking and biking prove to be great activities after a dose of formula as long as it was a short distance or a circuit. The first time I’ve ever been glad to see a Starbucks while biking downtown was this week when I really needed a bathroom.

I crack open the Liver Gallbladder cleanse late one night. This one contained a loose detox tea of aromatic herbs, a detox tincture, a liver/gallbladder tincture, and a tiny bottle of mouth freshening product.

Detox tea contains dandelion root, burdock root, cardamom seed, cinnamon bark, ginger root, clove bud, fennel seed, licorice root, juniper berry, black peppercorn, uva ursi leaf, horsetail herb, pau d’arco, parsley root and orange peel

Detox tincture contains red clover blossom, Mojave chaparral herb and resin, Oregon grape root, burdock root, yellow dock root, poke root, goldenseal root, fresh garlic bulb, lobelia herb and seed, and habanero pepper.

L-GB tincture contains milk thistle seed, dandelion root, Oregon grape root, gentian root, wormwood leaf and flower, Mojave chaparral herb, black walnut hull, Hawaiian yellow ginger root, garlic bulb, fennel seed and artichoke leaf

I modified the suggested accompanying fast…with food. I ate lightly and avoided carbs and animal products. I understand a liquid fast is suggested to give the gallbladder and the liver a break and to keep the colon free of accumulation, but too late, I ate. This cleanse proved a little challenging. Items need to be prepared. After the first morning running late from preparing the tea, I prepared everything the previous night. Each morning I consumed a Liver/Gallbladder flush drink of fresh squeezed lemon, lime, and orange juice, olive oil, water, plus garlic and ginger. I modified mine to include kombucha, and replace olive oil with Vegn EFA oil blend. Herbs soaked overnight (or all day in my case) and were boiled in pot of specified material each morning (or night…then reheated). I carried and consumed 60 ounces of tea, plus about 70 ounces of water, plus tinctures, plus Intestinal #1 capsules and other herbs. I decided to continue taking the Intestinal #1 since I didn’t use them all in the 5 previous days. It was also recommended that I consume maitake mushroom capsules and a maca tincture for my immune and endocrine systems.

My only issues are

1. I don’t like alcohol-based tinctures. It seems a little counter-intuitive to ingest alcohol no matter how little during a liver cleanse, but I am following the plan. Even steeping the tinctures don’t reduce the taste of the grain alcohol
2. Still the heating nature of the formulas is creating hunger or enough discomfort that I want to coat my stomach with food. And, I have gained about 2 inches around my abdomen from the slow moving clay…or maybe it is one of the crazy critters sensationalized in the booklet!
3. I had difficulty taking in all the water necessary during the liver cleanse and suffered from frontal headache pressure for three days, no appetite, and a higher fatigue level. The toxins were definitely circulating and were not getting flushed out of the body.

Dr. Schulze states he is pretty hardcore with his formulas, but I expected a little more action with the page after page reiteration of “jet propulsion” throughout the booklets. I had greater results in the same amount of time from raw Chinese herbal formulas and will probably get those prescriptions filled once again after I complete the final three weeks of this process. Maybe this is TMI but though I do not have irritated intestines with heat signs, this may have not been the best formula for me. Continuing the Intestinal #1 caused intestinal cramping and bleeding in the days following the end of the Liver/Gallbladder cleanse. I lost a day of work, the condition was a bit scary and explained the high level of fatigue. Thanks to hemostatic herbs all is well now.

Do I think this is an effective cleanse? Based on the herbal ingredients, yes. The essiac tea herbs are included as well as liver tonics, antifungal, antimicrobial, and antiparasitic herbs. I do think it should be administered much longer than 5 days. I think these formulas are modified for the palate of the typical American. The flavor isn’t so offensive that they will discontinue the process and just offensive enough that one will think it has to be doing something! My clients who also tried the cleanse thought the tea stunk up the house for days but for me it just smelled like masala chai minus the milk. The kits are extremely convenient and accessible, though one can do without the Air Detox in the Bowel Cleanse. If you have any heat sensation with bowel movements, hemorrhoids, colitis, dryness with difficult bowel movements, do not use the Intestinal #1.

The next three weeks I will take only the Detox tincture to cleanse the blood and lymph, as well as taking the remaining maitake mushroom and maca. Wish me luck.